by Maura Judkis
It's one of Broadway's tragic tales: Jonathan Larson, the creator of Rent, struggled for nearly 15 years to create a musical that meant something, only to die from an aortic aneurysm the day before the opening of his show. Larson never knew that his musical, based on Puccini's opera "La Boheme," became one of the most successful in Broadway's history, winning four Tony awards and a Pulitzer Prize, touring around the country and remaining on Broadway for 10 years and counting.
by Stephan Miller
As a modern rock opera appearing on Broadway, Jonathan Larson's Rent sets such contemporary issues as AIDS, poverty, sexual orientation and relationships against the background of eight struggling "bohemians" in New York's East Village. It also addresses questions we all ask ourselves, such as "What am I doing with my life?" and "Who do I share it with?" The Sony Pictures recent adaptation, directed by Chris Columbus, surprisingly maintains a rating of PG-13 despite mature issues and a steamy striptease.
by Brendan Polmer
Believe it or not, it's December once again, and the fall semester is almost over. With less than two weeks of classes left, students will soon find themselves spending countless hours in the library finishing final projects and studying for exams. To keep from going crazy, perhaps some live music is in order, as December promises to deliver great music up until the New Year.
What's better than the movie "Wedding Crashers?" Watching it on the big screen and being able to drink a beer at the same time. That's right, head to the Columbia Pike neighborhood of Arlington, Va., to the Arlington Cinema 'N' Drafthouse, where you can see a movie for only $5.
by Matthew Monaco
The edgy MTV cartoon "Aeon Flux" was known for its hyper-stylized setting and its eponymous character, whose outfit left little to the imagination. The show amassed a cult following, and the studio began planning for a movie. Finally, after years in development hell, the show was adapted into a live-action movie, with the main character brought to life by the beautiful and Academy Award-winning actress Charlize Theron.
The Learning Channel is seeking GW students to take part in a reality show called "Ultimate Blunders" featuring students' most embarrassing moments. The channel is coming to the District in January to film the show. The show is a 10-part series that will be broadcast over the summer.
by Rachel Weiner
In 2000, "Traffic" exposed the war against drugs as naive and hopelessly compromised. Now, the makers of "Traffic" are trying to accomplish the same feat with "Syriana," a panoramic view of Middle East politics and the oil industry. Syriana is a term the CIA uses to refer to any Middle East hotspot, and "Syriana" tries to encompass the whole area's problems.
by Jaclyn Levy
"Defy convention." That phrase, which appears on each of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company's playbills, is one that has always embodied the spirit of their mission: edgy, provocative theater. It is also something they have taken to heart in choosing their latest world premiere.
12/3 Dark Star Orchestra - 9:30 Club - $25 12/6 Sinead O'Conner w/ Sly & Robbie - 9:30 Club - $40 American Analog Set - Black Cat - $10 Bonnie Raitt w/ Marc Brossard - D.A.R. Constitution Hall - $45 12/8 The Sunday Mail - Staccato Lounge Pretty Girls Make Graves - Black Cat - $12 12/9 Kenin and State Radio - 9:30 Club - $15 Depeche Mode - Patriot Center - $49.
The Student Association unveiled the Colonial Coach shuttle service Nov. 22 and 23, transporting about 220 students from the Foggy Bottom campus to Dulles International Airport in Virginia. The bus service, still in its trial stages, may be expanded for the December winter break with increased frequency of service and expanded transportation to Baltimore/Washington International Airport.
Panhellenic Association votes to expand The Panhellenic Association, the group governing sororities, voted last month to expand the number of recognized chapters on campus from eight to nine. The announcement came as the Interfraternity Council, the fraternity oversight body on campus, invited both Sigma Chi and Kappa Alpha Order to GW.
by Melissa Meyers
The Residence Hall Association is urging the University to institute an appeals process in which students could get back items wrongly confiscated during health and safety inspections.
by Katharine Malone
Approximately one in five students has potentially debilitating anxiety about exams, and research has shown that exam-related anxiety can be so severe that it costs students a letter grade, said John Dages, associate director of the University Counseling Center.
by Andrew Ramonas
University officials said they are unsure if the school is invested in businesses with operations in Sudan's Darfur region more than a month after students began pushing GW to refrain from holding stock in such companies. Earlier this year, Stanford University decided to divest from companies believed to do business in Darfur such as PetroChina, ABB Ltd.
Over the last few months, University officials, faculty members and students have visited seven universities on the East Coast to examine other schools' use of the four-class, four-credit system, and to gauge the possibility of switching student course loads at GW.
The Nov. 21 article "GW, FBA debate Sq. 54" (p. 6) incorrectly stated that the Advisory Neighborhood Commission passed a resolution 5 to 1 against GW's plans for the site. The resolution was passed 4 to 1. Also, the dissenting vote was cast by ANC commissioner James Morris, not chairman Vince Micone.
by Brandon Butler
The Student Association held a special two-day election starting Wednesday in which students had the opportunity to vote on the adoption of a new constitution for the government.
While some organizations are campaigning against the new constitution because they oppose potential changes to how elections would be run and the SA's structure, SA senators supporting the legislation continue to defend it.
by Dan Kirkwood
The Folger Shakespeare Theater's production of Much Ado About Nothing takes a more serious and dramatic approach in spite of the play's light title. The stage is set just at the close of World War II on a British estate. Brits and Yanks, jubilant with the peace, set about finding love, in the case of Claudio and Hero, or avoiding it, in the case of Benedict and Beatrice.
by Lindsey Hartmann
GW will spend the next two years training first responders in the event of a terrorist attack after receiving a $4.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
GW was one of 267 institutions and organizations vying for a share of the $30 million in the 2005 budget for the Department of Homeland Security's Competitive Training Grant Program.
by Kaitlyn Jahrling
While some label the conflict between GW and the community as the typical "town-gown" dispute that would happen at any university located in a city, none of the college communities in the District view the schools in their neighborhoods with the same level of animosity Foggy Bottom has toward GW.
by Helena Ball
It's 12:45 a.m. on a weeknight, and sophomore Lisa Ramodhar sits at a round table with two of her friends on the fourth floor of Gelman Library. To her, the night is still young, and sleep is nowhere in sight.
"I sleep one and a half to three hours every night," Ramodhar said.
by Catherine Villnave
D.C. resident Allison Wolfe said it was the diversity of the Mount Pleasant neighborhood, located in Northwest between 16th Street and the National Zoo, that persuaded her to move there about 10 years ago. But now she said a real estate boom in the area is starting to push out the minority residents.
by Katie Rooney
GW will house an American-style bistro in the vacant Quigley's building at 21st and G streets after concluding an extensive search for a vendor, University officials announced Tuesday night.
The bistro, called TONIC Restaurant, will be based off another TONIC located in Mount Pleasant in Northwest D.C.
by Amanda Limmer
Six years running, second-year graduate student Will Alexander has never paid a dime of tuition to GW. Alexander, who graduated in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, received four years of free tuition through a GW scholarship for D.C. high school students.
by Lizzie Wozobski
Matthew O'Gara, a GW lecturer in the University Honors Program and the Elliott School of International Affairs, was named the 2005 District of Columbia Professor of the Year last month.
"It's rather humbling to win an award of this magnitude, especially given that GW is full of excellent teachers and many could have (been) selected instead," O'Gara said.
The University has finalized a sexual harassment policy after nearly five years of having an interim document in place.
Susan Kaplan, associate vice president of human recourses, said the new policy resolves unclear procedures and ambiguous sections from the interim policy but contains no major changes.
Start a revolution While reading "2006 should be the Student Association's 1776" (Nov. 21, p. 4), I felt an eerie sense of d?j? vu. As an idealistic freshman I became involved with the SA, working primarily on the GW Votes campaign. While in the SA I came to realize the extent to which the Student Association did not represent the student body.
by Timothy Kaldas
When George Bush ran for president in 2000, he promised to restore values and integrity to the White House. He would end the lies and be honest and straightforward with the American people. This pledge was the first of many lies that would follow. The most recent set of lies emanating from this administration have to do with torture.
by Jake Sherman
The last time the GW men's basketball team lost to St. Francis (Pa.), coach Karl Hobbs was a freshman at the University of Connecticut under head coach Dom Perno. Not one player on the Colonials' roster is old enough to remember that day, but they played Wednesday night like they did not want to let history repeat itself.
by Will Dempster
For Colonials fans hoping for a repeat triumph against Maryland at this Monday's BB&T Classic, a little pessimism may be in order. After impressive efforts in their first two games, the top-25 Colonials were pushed by the Saint Francis (Pa.) Red Flash for 25 minutes Wednesday night.
Women's basketball Coach Joe McKeown and his squad avoided the cold and headed south to Freeport, Bahamas, to participate in the Junkanoo Jam Classic. The Colonials chalked up one victory in the tournament, over No. 19 Purdue, but lost to No. 18 Texas. No.
Men's basketball coach Karl Hobbs confirmed Wednesday that senior Dokun Akingbade will redshirt this season. "I think it's in his best interest and our best interest as a program to redshirt him because when we look out at our team next year we don't have any experience coming back at that position," Hobbs said after GW's win over St.
The ongoing genocide in the Sudanese province of Darfur continues to be one of the worst atrocities presently facing humankind, while engendering little more than apathy from the world community. Aiding the genocide are multinational corporations continuing to operate in Sudan that inadvertently contribute to the Sudanese government's sponsorship of militias responsible for the death and destruction.
by Stephan Miller
Thanksgiving is a time to travel home and spend time with your family, as a family. It's a holiday of relaxation, food and watching a good parade/football game on TV. My Thanksgiving holiday has always resembled the stereotypical family gathering. This year, because I live in a post-Katrina New Orleans, Thanksgiving lacked the comfort and leisure seen in years past.
by Zach Ahmad
The latest advancement in video game technology has arrived, but college students may have a tough time getting their hands on it.
On Nov. 22, Microsoft released the Xbox 360 gaming console to enormous international fanfare. Many stores opened their doors at midnight the day of the release to distribute the first editions to customers lined up outside.
by Keri Fulton
Tai Shan, the four-month-old panda cub at the National Zoo in Washington D.C., has become a national favorite with fans across the nation scrambling for tickets to see him.
"Its amazing to me personally, the volume of enthusiasm and interest the cub is receiving from the public," said National Zoo spokesman John Gibbons.
by Jake Sherman
Posted Friday, Dec. 2, 10:47 p.m. The No. 19/22 Colonials shot 50 percent from beyond the arc and forced 19 turnovers en route to a 75-62 victory over the Terriers Friday night. The Colonials (4-0) got senior Pops Mensah-Bonsu back, but his services were marginalized, as he only managed four points.
